why separate tanks for grey and black water?
Hi Folks, Let's say I'm building my own RV. Is there a reason I can't use the same tank for grey and black water? -Tom
Forum Discussion
Many large motorcoaches (commercial rather than RV use) have a single large waste tank. That makes it a "black tank."
There's some history. at one time, at late as the 60s, there was only a waste tank for "black" waste and "gray" drained to the ground or a bucket. Some types of RVs, including tent trailers, still do this. Gray tanks started showing up with two factors: RVs got showers, washing machines, other facilities that produced large amounts of gray waste, and not coincidentally, more and more places prohibited draining all this wastewater to the ground, so tanks had to be installed to contain it at those places.
The gray waste tank has probably been put into the RVIA standards, but as a home builder, you are not a RVIA member and won't be paying them to put their sticker in your rig. Those commercial coaches with one big tank? Manufacturers also not RVIA members, not building to RVIA standards (usually well beyond that) and not looking to license a RVIA sticker.
There's some history. at one time, at late as the 60s, there was only a waste tank for "black" waste and "gray" drained to the ground or a bucket. Some types of RVs, including tent trailers, still do this. Gray tanks started showing up with two factors: RVs got showers, washing machines, other facilities that produced large amounts of gray waste, and not coincidentally, more and more places prohibited draining all this wastewater to the ground, so tanks had to be installed to contain it at those places.
The gray waste tank has probably been put into the RVIA standards, but as a home builder, you are not a RVIA member and won't be paying them to put their sticker in your rig. Those commercial coaches with one big tank? Manufacturers also not RVIA members, not building to RVIA standards (usually well beyond that) and not looking to license a RVIA sticker.
